Julianna Barwick

May 6th sees the release of Will, the revelatory third full-length album by Brooklyn experimental artist Julianna Barwick. Conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, the ominous, compelling Willis a departure from 2013’s Alex Somers-produced Nepenthe. If that last record conjured images of gentle, thick fog rolling over desolate mountains, then Willis a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and soft textures that sounds looming and restorative all at once.

Barwick’s life over the past several years has largely been lived in transit, and as such the genesis of Will was not beholden to location; Barwick worked on the album in a variety of locales, from a desolate house in upstate New York to the Moog Factory in Asheville, North Carolina to Lisbon, Portugal.

“I love touring, but it can be a wild ride,” Barwick reflects on this cycle of constant motion. “You’re constantly adjusting, assimilating, and finding yourself in life-changing situations.” Those experiences played into and helped shapeWill’s charged, unstable atmosphere: “I knew I’d be playing these songs live, so I wanted some movement,” she explains. “Something that had rhythm and low-end.”

That sense of forward propulsion is largely owed to Will’s synth-heavy textures. The electric current that runs through the album takes on various shapes of intoxicating instability. Featuring contributions from Thomas Arsenault (Mas Ysa), Dutch cellist Maarten Vos and percussionist, Jamie Ingalls (Chairlift, Tanlines, Beverly), Will is largely a product of ups and downs, a reflection of a life lived somewhere in between transience and standing still. “While making this record, there were moments of isolation and dark currents,” Barwick admits. “I like exploring that, and I love when I come across songs that sound scary or ominous. I’ve always been curious about what goes into making a song that way.” The beguiling, beautifully complicated Will is the result of that curiosity, and proof of Barwick’s irresistibly engaging talent as a composer and vocalist.

Will comes off of Barwick’s busiest period in her career, following the release of Nepenthe—a spate of activity that included playing piano for Yoko Ono, performing at Carnegie Hall at the annual Tibet House concert with the Flaming Lips and Philip Glass, The Rosabi EP and beer created in conjunction with brewing company Dogfish Head, and a re-imagining of Bach’s “Adagio” from Concerto In D Minor.

Watch the Derrick Belcham-directedvideo for debut single, “Nebula” which was filmed in the Philip Johnson Glass House and presents the essence of Will and Julianna Barwick’s richly complex musical fabric.

A pre-order bonus bundle that includes a 7” single (limited to 500 copies) is available when purchasing the new album directly from JuliannaBarwick.com. The 7” includes “Chaos”, a song from her score to Zia Anger’s 2015 short film I Remember Nothing, and “Never Change”, a beautiful out-take from her 2011 album The Magic Place.

Julianna Barwick has kept busy with a multitude of projects, performances, and more in the last year or so. Today we’re excited to share one of them with you! Julianna has written and performed the original score for director Zia Anger’s latest film, I Remember Nothing. The film follows the day in a life of a student, named Joan, who’s unaware she’s epileptic. To reflect the phases of a seizure, I Remember Nothing is structured in five sections. The cast features Lola Kirke(Mistress America, Gone Girl), Michael Cavadis (Wonder Boys, Girls), India Menuez (Up In The Air, Uncertain Terms), Adinah Dacynger (Uncertain Terms) and Poet Robert Kelly.

Julianna Barwick and Zia Anger have been collaborators for some time. She’s also directed music videos for Julianna, including the video for “One Half“. You could argue it was second nature, an “ah, of course!” moment for Zia to create a film with Julianna in mind. Here’s what Zia had to say about Julianna’s involvement,

“I wrote ‘I Remember Nothing’ knowing that Julianna would score the piece. The score was always meant to be this 6th and final piece of the main character of Joan (the other 5 being represented by on screen actresses.) When she was writing the score there was a moment where we actually sat down and I gave her direction, similar to the way I would direct actors. It was really a fascinating experience to say the least.”

Here’s a late new year’s gift to all the Julianna Barwick fans out there! KEXP has shared her in-studio session which includes an interview plus songs “Crystal Lake”, “Look Into Your Own Mind”, “Forever”, “One Half”, and “Full Performance”. Watch the entire session above or here on YouTube.

Click read more to see individual videos for each of the songs and her tour dates later this month starting in Indianapolis on the 26th!

Julianna Barwick has had a busy Fall releasing her new album Nepenthe, opening for Sigur Ros on their North American tour, and playing the opening night party of Pitchfork Festival Paris just a few weeks ago.

Today, she releases the second music video from her debut album, Nepenthe, for the song “The Harbinger”. The video, made with her constant collaborator, director Derrick Belcham and premiered today on Pitchfork, beautifully captures the song’s celestial qualities and can be seen above or here on our Youtube channel.

On the video, director Belcham notes, “The video illustrates a moment in which an individual makes a sudden choice which they know will change their life forever, for better or worse, and the freedom that this affords them, liberating or oppressive. It is a non-linear illustration of catharsis.”

Click read more to see Belcham’s other videos he has produced with Julianna and ticket links to Julianna’s West Coast tour dates including a stop at The Flaming Lips‘ Womb Gallery in Oklahoma City.Read the rest of this entry »